Russian missile attack on Ukraine cafe kills 51, rescuers comb through rubble

HROZA, Ukraine, Oct 5 (Reuters) – A Russian missile slammed into a cafe and grocery store in a town in northeastern Ukraine on Thursday, reducing the building to rubble and killing 51 people during a memorial service, officials said. Ukrainians.

Large piles of bricks, smashed metal and building materials were left where the cafe and shop were attacked in the early afternoon in the village of Hroza, Kharkiv region.

The attack was the deadliest in the Kharkiv region since the Russian invasion more than 19 months ago, a regional official told public broadcaster Suspilne. It also appeared to be one of the highest civilian death tolls in any Russian attack.

“This settlement has about 330 people,” regional governor Oleh Synehubov said on national television, down from 500 people before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“In fact, a fifth of this village has been killed in a single terrorist attack.”

Synehubov said the victims included children, as their families had remained in the village despite a wartime evacuation order. The village was near the town of Kupiansk, recaptured by Ukrainian forces late last year and quite close to one of the front lines of the war.

Rescuers picked their way through piles of rubble and placed the bodies in a field next to a playground.

Some were put into white body bags and taken away. Others were barely covered by rugs or other materials, with their hands sticking out awkwardly.

A spokesperson for regional emergency services said on Telegram that the search for survivors had ended and the death toll stood at 51 dead and six injured.

“We heard the explosion and then people said it happened in Hroza, so we came because we knew my mother was here,” Valeriia Herasymenko said as rescue efforts continued. “A memorial service was being held in the cafe.”

MISSILE HITS DURING MEMORIAL SERVICE

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said local officials were sitting down to eat in the toilet when the missile fell.

“At this commemoration there were people from every family, from every home. It’s a terrible tragedy,” Klymenko told Ukrainian television.

Klymenko cited preliminary information that he said showed the attack was carried out with an Iskander ballistic missile.

He said the attack was clearly highly targeted and that Ukrainian security services had launched an investigation into the matter.

“The terrorists deliberately carried out the lunchtime attack to ensure maximum casualties,” Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said.

“There were no military targets there. This is a heinous crime intended to scare Ukrainians.”

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who was attending a summit with European leaders in Spain, stated that “Russian terrorism must be stopped.”

“We are now talking to European leaders, in particular, about strengthening our air defense, about strengthening our soldiers, about providing our country with protection against terrorism,” he said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia has carried out frequent airstrikes since the start of its large-scale invasion in February 2022, and Ukraine has launched a counteroffensive in the south and east that it says is gradually advancing.

Moscow had no immediate comment on the developments in Hroza. Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians, but many have been killed in attacks that have hit residential areas as well as energy, defense, ports, grain and other facilities.

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